


Benny's Boat

by Halfling



Category: Supernatural
Genre: First Kiss, Hurt/Comfort, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-11-12
Updated: 2012-11-12
Packaged: 2017-11-18 11:49:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,388
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/560750
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Halfling/pseuds/Halfling
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dean and Sam have a fight so Dean takes refuge with Benny for a night.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Benny's Boat

**Author's Note:**

> Also posted to my [tumblr](www.halfhalfling.tumblr.com).

The phone rang for half a minute before Benny picked up. Dean just about lost his nerve and had his thumb on the button to hang up when a familiar voice, tinny through the speaker crackled in his ear.

“Hey, brother, how goes things?”

“Benny. Hey. So I, uh. Sam and I had something of a falling out and I guess I was just wondering if you—I mean if you aren’t busy—“

“Boat’s got a bunk if you need a place. Anchored in Port Angeles, currently.”

“Actually, yeah. I’m about 4 hours away.”

“I’ll cozy the place up a bit for when you get here, then.”

“Hey, Benny?”

“Yeah?”

“Thanks.”

Benny texted him the address and Dean realized he had no idea how Benny even learned how to do that. Sometimes he wondered if Benny didn’t adapt better to the modern age than Dean did himself.

Dean sped the whole way and got there in just under 3 hours. He remembered nothing from the drive. He tried to think about Sam, but that was too painful. He tried to think about anything else but that was more painful still. He thought about Benny.

Seeing Benny’s face was like coming home.

“Some shiner you got there,” Benny chuckled as they hugged.

“You don’t look so pretty yourself,” Dean replied with a half-smile. Benny had a split eyebrow and seemed to be missing part of one ear. Dean reached up to inspect them more closely but thought better of it and clapped Benny on the back instead. If Benny noticed the messy recovery, he gave no sign.

“I’ll mend. A good deal faster than you, I’m afraid,” he said quietly. He tipped Dean’s chin up so he could better see the fresh bruise. For a moment he looked concerned, but he quickly turned it into a smile. “But where are my manners? Come on, let me show you Andrea.”

Benny slung an arm around Dean’s shoulders and walked him down the abandoned dock. The glow from the single streetlight seemed to ooze in the fog, giving the place an ethereal feel. Dean decided it was better that way.

“Andrea like your girl?” _The one you beheaded,_ a voice in the back of Dean’s head reminded.

“Yeah, named the boat in her memory. Seemed fitting.” Dean listened for bitterness or regret in his voice, but there wasn’t a trace of it. Dean didn’t know whether to feel relieved or just guilty. Benny led him to the end of the dock where a mid-sized yacht was anchored and tied.

“This is your boat?” Dean tried and failed to keep the surprise from his voice.

“You like? She’s not much to look at but she’s sound on the water. Rigged her myself. Shall I give you the tour?”

“Yeah, that’d great.”

Benny helped him climb on and showed him around the deck, pointing out the work he’d done getting it sea worthy. “This bit is new,” he said, pointing to yet another detail that Dean would have never noticed. Dean found himself enraptured by Benny’s voice. It worked with the rocking of the boat to calm his nerves.

“And this is the bedroom,” Benny said, taking him below deck and pulling a string to turn on a single bulb light. “If you wanna sit yourself on the bunk, I’ve just remembered I’ve got a med kit somewhere in here, I can patch you up a bit.”

Dean was too tired to protest. He sat on the low bed, finding it more comfortable than he expected. The room was small, but surprisingly cozy. A small closet nearby was slightly ajar, and Dean could see where Benny had stashed a cooler, some weapons and tools. He had little doubts about what was in the cooler, but he found himself almost touched that Benny had tried to hide it. When Benny came back from the tiny bathroom he was holding a first aid tin, the type a soldier might have, and a washcloth in a bowl of water.

“Benny, I’m fine, really.” His words sounded weaker than they had in his head.

“Yeah, I can see that,” Benny said rolling his eyes. He took the cloth and rung it out before carefully wiping Dean’s face. It came away red and Dean stared at it uncomprehending. Benny must have noticed his confusion, because he explained in a soothing voice, “Just a little cut and a bit of a nosebleed. That eye’s the worst of it, I’d say you got lucky, considering.”

Dean barked a sharp, sarcastic laugh. “Right. Lucky. Only family I have left in the world and I pissed him off enough to do this,” Dean gestured at his bruised face.

“Sam will come around,” Benny said in a quiet voice, “Meantime, why don’t you lie down and get some rest?”

Dean took a breath to calm himself. Benny had the right idea; Dean was just becoming aware of just how tired he was. A glance at his phone told him it was nearly 4 AM. He had no texts or missed calls from Sam. He wasn’t sure if that made him angry or just relieved. He’d be able to think better in the morning. “You’re right. Just need some rest, is all.”

“Of course I’m right.” Benny stood up as if to put the med kit away, then seemed to change his mind and leaned down to kiss Dean on the forehead. “Someone has to look out for your wellbeing if you won’t,” he said, pulling back with a crooked smile.

Benny took the washcloth back to the sink in the bathroom to wring it out. Dean felt suddenly very lonely. Moments like these when he thought back to Purgatory it wasn’t the endless fighting monsters that he remembered, or the endless searching for Cas. It was Benny, by his side, at his back, working and killing and sleeping together in tandem. There was something about it that just felt, well, right. And right now that something was missing.

“Benny?”

“Yeah, Dean.”

“Come ‘ere.”

Benny looked at him like he didn’t trust what he was hearing, but he obliged.

“Help me up.” Dean held out a hand and when Benny grabbed it to pull him up Dean used the momentum to bring their lips together in a kiss. After a moment’s shock, Benny kissed him back, though cautiously, as if he wasn’t sure he should. They lingered for a few too-short seconds before Dean pulled away.

“You, uh, feeling okay there, buddy?” Benny asked gently.

Dean nodded at first, but after a moment’s thought shook his head. “I don’t know, man, I’m lost. Sam doesn’t want to hunt anymore, Cas is gone, I worked so hard to get back here and I feel like there’s nothing here for me. Then I see you and it’s like, I have something. Someone. And I don’t feel so lost. Does that make any sense?”

“Yeah,” Benny swallowed hard and nodded, “Yeah, it does.”

Dean pulled him into another kiss and this time when he kissed back it was like a lover’s kiss, slow and easy and soothing and when Dean opened his mouth he felt Benny’s tongue tasting him, as if savoring every inch. Dean felt something he hadn’t felt in a long time, and as Benny lowered them both onto the bunk and wrapped him in a strong embrace Dean realized what that was: safe. It was as if he’d been holding his breath ever since Purgatory and suddenly he was able to let it go. No matter what happened, Benny had his back, so nothing could touch them. Dean wanted it to never end.

They curled up in a tangle of limbs and stayed there until morning. The slow rocking of the boat, coupled with the rise and fall of Benny’s chest was threatening to send Dean into a very deep sleep but before he could he just had one more concern.

“Hey Benny?”

“Yeah.”

“How’d you get this boat, anyway?”

“No humans were harmed in the process, if that’s what you’re worried about.”

“Good answer.” Dean laughed at the absurdity of it all, truly laughing for the first time since before Purgatory and by the time Benny had joined in Dean was well on his way to the best sleep he’d had in years.


End file.
